John William Kneller, OAP (October 15, 1916 – July 2, 2009) was an English-American French language professor and scholar, and the fifth President of

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus. Being New York City's first publ ...

Biography

Kneller was born in

Oldham, England Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, wh ...

, to John W. Kneller and Margaret Ann Truslove. He had four older brothers. He immigrated to

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...

, when he was five years old. He later became a U.S. citizen. He studied at

Clark University Clark University is a private research university in Worcester, Massachusetts. Founded in 1887 with a large endowment from its namesake Jonas Gilman Clark, a prominent businessman, Clark was one of the first modern research universities in the ...

(B.A.; 1938) and

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

(M.A., 1948 and Ph.D. in French, 1950). Kneller was a

Fulbright Scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than Fr ...

at the

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

in 1949-50. In June 1970 Clark University conferred upon him the degree of

Doctor of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Doctor ...

Honoris Causa An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

, "in recognition of his fine accomplishments as a teacher, scholar, and administrator and in gratitude for his wise counsel on behalf of the trustees and faculty of Clark University." During World War II, Kneller was a translator for the

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...

. He served at

Camp Ritchie Fort Ritchie at Cascade, Maryland was a military installation southwest of Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania and southeast of Waynesboro in the area of South Mountain. Following the 1995 Base Realignment and Closure Commission, it closed in 19 ...

in Maryland and was part of the Military Intelligence Training Center classifying him as one of the

Ritchie Boys The Ritchie Boys were a special collection of soldiers, with sizable numbers of German-Austrian recruits, of Military Intelligence Service officers and enlisted men of World War II who were trained at Camp Ritchie in Washington County, Maryland. ...

. Kneller taught at

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...

, where starting in 1950 he was a French instructor, professor, department chair, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and then provost. He was the fifth President of

from 1969 to 1979. Kneller brought along his horse from Oberlin, and would ride it in Prospect Park. Students occupied his office at the college during a

student strike Campus protest or student protest is a form of student activism that takes the form of protest at university campuses. Such protests encompass a wide range of activities that indicate student dissatisfaction with a given political or academ ...

after the

Kent State shootings The Kent State shootings, also known as the May 4 massacre and the Kent State massacre,"These would be the first of many probes into what soon became known as the Kent State Massacre. Like the Boston Massacre almost exactly two hundred years bef ...

and the Cambodian Campaign in 1970. He terminated classes, but kept campus buildings open for students and faculty. A member of the Brooklyn College Fencing Team introduced

streaking Streaking is the act of running, often naked, through a public area for publicity, as a prank, a dare, or a form of protest. Streaking is often associated with sporting events, but can occur in more secluded areas. Streakers are often pursued b ...

to the college in 1974, dashing across the Quad. From 1979-1995 Kneller taught French literature at

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admi ...

and the

CUNY Graduate Center The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York (CUNY Graduate Center) is a public research institution and post-graduate university in New York City. Serving as the principal doctorate-granting institution of the Ci ...

. He was co-chair of the

Henri Peyre Henri Maurice Peyre (21 February 1901 – 9 December 1988) was a French-born American linguist, literary scholar and Sterling Professor of French Emeritus at Yale University. Peyre graduated from the École Normale Superieure and the Sorbonne an ...

Institute for the Humanities at the CUNY Graduate Center, and Managing Editor and Editor-in-Chief of the '' French Review''. In 1999, the French government awarded him its highest rank --

Commandeur Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

in the

Ordre des Palmes Academiques A suite, in Western classical music and jazz, is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral/ concert band pieces. It originated in the late 14th century as a pairing of dance tunes and grew in scope to comprise up to five dances, sometimes with ...

(Order of Academic Palms). He was married for 61 years to Alice Bowerman Hart. They had a daughter, Linda Hart Kneller. Kneller died at 92 years of age on July 2, 2009, at his home in

Westport, New York Westport is a town in Essex County, New York, United States overlooking Lake Champlain. The population was 1,312 at the 2010 census. The town is on the eastern border of the county and is south of Plattsburgh and south of Montreal, Quebec, Canad ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kneller, John People from Westport, New York People from Oldham 1916 births American academic administrators Brooklyn College faculty Yale University alumni Clark University alumni University of Paris alumni Oberlin College faculty Hunter College faculty Graduate Center, CUNY faculty United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II Ritchie Boys People from Worcester, Massachusetts 2009 deaths Presidents of Brooklyn College British expatriates in France British emigrants to the United States 20th-century American academics